Musée des Beaux-Arts Lausanne

The planned polygonal museum, designed to resemble sculpturally polished bedrock, is set directly on Lake Geneva. The monolith, clad in white artificial stone, sets a new accent within the silhouette of Lausanne’s lakeside cityscape.

View of the sculptural building from the promenade

Bird's eye view with panoramic view over Lake Geneva

The museum is linked to the town via an ample ramp, which gathers visitors together from the individual entrances before distributing them throughout the various levels. The route of the ramp guides arrivals into the museum’s reception area.

Model animation

Axonometric projections

Moving counter-clockwise on another ramp, visitors reach the anteroom of the two exhibition levels, which is oriented toward the city. Two large, freely divisible, artificially lit galleries are interlocked spatially crosswise via converse staircases, with two skylight galleries set higher up.

Model view — panorama ramp with scenic restaurant

Exhibition room with view over Lake Geneva

Again and again, these versatile spaces offer impressive prospects, until viewers are overwhelmed by the panoramic view from the roof terrace.

Axometric construction display with top light detail

The skylights in the exhibition galleries seem to perforate the roof. In the evenings, this produces a play of light that is visible from afar.

0007 Musée des Beaux-Arts Lausanne

Reference numbers
Competition: 2005, 1st place

Project participants
Client: Kanton Waadt
Construction engineer: Walt + Galmarini, Zürich
Landscape architecture: Hager Landschaftsarchitekten, Zürich
Building technology: Waldhauser, Basel

Team BWK
Maurice Berrel, Raphael Kräutler, Charles Wülser, Sophie Wuest

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